


Mon cher voisin

by Chatterbox



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Fluff, I don't even know where that thing came from, M/M, a tiny bit of angst, alternative universe, or I guess so xD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 06:29:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3840532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chatterbox/pseuds/Chatterbox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mathieu is fed up with his neighbour and decides to do something about it... He doesn't know what he is getting into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mon cher voisin

Mathieu came back home after a hard day at work and immediately threw himself on his bed, sighing contentedly when he felt the softness of his comforter on his skin. 

Being a primary school teacher might seem like an easy job, but whoever was thinking that had never experienced a day with primary school pupils. Don’t get Mathieu wrong, he loved children and thought his pupils were really nice… deep down (well, most of them were anyway), but trying to keep them concentrated was no piece of cake for sure. That day had been quite horrendous, with his pupils having been quite… dynamic let’s say. The fact that he had had troubles sleeping for a few nights hadn’t helped.

He was just going to fall asleep when he heard laughing in the corridor. Fuck, the neighbour was back. He could say goodbye to his desired and well-deserved sleep. He cursed as he heard the man answer loudly to whoever he was talking to on the phone. Mathieu felt like crying. He needed to sleep for God’s sake.

Mathieu didn’t know anything about the guy other than the fact he was rich (he owned two of the three floors that composed the building, and ground floor, making him Mathieu’s only neighbour), and that he was preventing him from sleeping half the time, which didn’t sit well with him. At all. It was a bit unfair to think he was an inconsiderate asshole when he had never even seen him, but Mathieu was sleep-deprived, so don’t sue him. 

It had been weeks since he had been able to sleep peacefully. First, right after the guy had moved in, there were men working at his place with hammers and other annoyingly noisy things. Then, there was the home-warming party, then he started inviting people over about two or three nights a week. Other than that, there was the fact that he was pretty loud in general: he liked singing (out of tune, by the way), listening to music, speaking and laughing loudly… Was there something he wasn’t doing loudly? (Sex sure wasn’t on that list, especially because of how loud his partners were… yeah, Mathieu had the chance of hearing that too…). And, of course, the guy always went to bed late and got up when Mathieu was already gone… And their completely different rhythms were the thing preventing Mathieu from sleeping. And that was not okay… by any means. 

Maybe if he had just asked his neighbour to try being a little less loud he would have, but Mathieu was really shy, so he hadn’t tried that wonderful technique. 

Strangely enough, weekends were calm most of the time. Mathieu had come to the conclusion that noisy guy was probably partying at a friend’s place or whatever. He didn’t really care about that, all he knew was that he managed to get some sleep on those blessed nights, which felt great. He loved weekends, not only because of sleep, but because he had the occasion to watch all the football matches he could (missing Arsenal’s ones only when he was held somewhere by an emergency or a very important obligation). Sadly, he had some work to do too, to prepare for his classes (but he was usually postponing it until he couldn’t anymore). 

However, there were still three days left in the week, and Mathieu didn’t think he would be able to survive for so long without sleep. Later in the night, Mathieu’s neighbour switched his stereo on: that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Mathieu got up angrily, not thinking twice about what he would actually say to the guy once he was in front of him. He just knew he was determined to say something for once and that was enough… well, for now at least. 

He put a sweater and his shoes on (because complaining to the neighbour was something, and doing it with just his Arsenal shorts on was something else entirely).

However, his sleep-deprived self wasn’t efficient enough to think about tying his shoe-laces, and coordination wasn’t his forte at that time of night. As a result, he ended up falling quite brutally in the stairs between his floor and the neighbour’s, hitting his head in the process, splitting his brow ridge. 

“Fuck!” He cursed loudly, blood pouring down from the gash above his eye. He put his sweater-sleeve on it, trying to prevent any blood from falling into his eye. It was messy, and not very successful. 

At that point, noisy-neighbour rushed out of his flat… or well, Mathieu supposed it was him… He couldn’t see anything anymore, so…

“Where the fuck do you come from?” He asked. 

“From the flat above yours” Mathieu answered, trying to convey a tone which showed how obvious the answer to the guy’s question was. 

The guy answered nothing for a while, and then suddenly exclaimed: 

“What the fuck?! I didn’t even know there was a flat above mine” 

Seriously?! Fucking seriously?! This guys was unbelievable. 

“That probably explains why you’re so fucking loud all the time” Mathieu replied bitterly. He would have never spoken that way to someone he didn’t know, but now he was exhausted, and annoyed, and he had just gotten himself a split eyebrow… He thought he had a good excuse. 

“Fuck, I’m so sorry…” The guy answered, sounding a bit panicked. “It’s just… I never noticed you… I’m really sorry” He apologised, getting closer to Mathieu and helping him get up. 

“Come on, let’s go clean this up” The guy said.

Mathieu still couldn’t see his face, but he looked very tall… And built. So, okay, Mr. Asshole had a nice body… And maybe he wasn’t as big an asshole as Mathieu had formerly thought… He was just totally unobservant. It was quite an improvement, wasn’t it? 

“Hold on for a sec, I’m gonna go get your shoes” the guy said. 

Because yes, of course, Mathieu had lost his untied shoes when he had fallen down the stairs like an ungraceful potato sack (okay, there weren’t many graceful potato sack, but whatever). 

“Here we go” The guy announced, holding onto Mathieu’s arm so he could lead him to his flat. 

There was something in the way he was speaking… Mathieu couldn’t quite put his finger on it, even though he had the feeling it was quite obvious, and that he would have noticed long ago had his situation been different. 

Once they were in the guy’s bathroom, he took a first-aid kit out of the cupboard and rummaged through it. Then, he pried Mathieu’s hands away from his wound, and the young teacher was thankful for that, because he was starting to get cramps. 

When he looked up though, hoping to finally see the guy’s face, he nearly had a heart-attack. 

“What the fuck?!” He exclaimed. 

“What? Did I do something?!” The guy’s asked hastily, looking confused. 

“You’re Olivier freaking Giroud… Couldn’t you have given me a warning?” Mathieu requested, in French, finally understanding what was weird about the guy’s elocution. He had a French accent. And a pretty heavy one at that. 

“I… Why would I have done that?” Olivier asked, also in French, not knowing what to do. 

Thinking about it, it was true that Mathieu’s request was a bit weird. 

“Okay… You have a point” Mathieu admitted. The guy probably thought that Mathieu had noticed, or that he didn’t know him… Though he was wearing Arsenal shorts… and an Arsenal sweater… so there was pretty little chance of that. 

“Am I dreaming?” Mathieu then asked. All of this felt so surreal… He was in Olivier Giroud’s flat, for God’s sake… And the guy had been his neighbour for months without him noticing. 

“I… I don’t know… I don’t think so… Else I’m having the same dream as you…” Olivier replied. 

“I’m getting confused” Mathieu declared, closing his eyes for a second. 

“Well, it looks like you hit your head pretty bad… Do you think we should go to the hospital? You might have a concussion” Olivier told him. 

“Nah, I’m fine, don’t worry” Mathieu assured him. 

“Okay… If you say so… But tell me if you start feeling nauseous, or if your head spins or anything” Olivier requested. 

Being a professional football player, he had probably seen his fair share of injuries of all sorts. Mathieu trusted he was in good hands. 

“Ok, I will” Mathieu agreed, as Olivier started cleaning his wound. 

“Doesn’t it hurt?” He asked, surprised. 

“No… It’s quite alright” It did sting a bit, but nothing too bad. 

“I don’t think you’ll need stitches. It looks impressive because it bled a lot but it’s always that way with brow ridges” Olivier assured him, putting a bandage on the cut. 

“Thank you” Mathieu mumbled, feeling self-conscious. 

He had just been patched-up by his football crush, whom he had been planning on yelling at without knowing it. It was the weirdest thing which had ever happened to him. 

“You’re welcome… What’s your name, by the way?” Olivier asked. 

“Mathieu” he replied. 

“Olivier” His interlocutor said, as if Mathieu didn’t know, extending his hand to him. 

“I know, yeah” Mathieu replied reflexively. Then, feeling stupid for doing so, he blushed. 

Olivier just smiled at him, and asked: 

“Sorry if I’m being nosy, but where were you going dressed like that? Not that it’s not a great choice of clothes, of course… but…” 

Mathieu’s eyes widen at that, as he quickly thought about how he could pull himself away from this mess.

“I… well… I… the thing is…” Mathieu stammered. Fuck, he was pathetic. 

“Yeah?” Olivier asked, looking amused. The little shit. 

“I was kinda going to yell at you… for making noise… because I couldn’t sleep” Mathieu finally admitted, blushing brightly. God, this was embarrassing. 

Olivier instantly stopped smiling. 

“Oh… I am really, really sorry… You should have said something sooner… I would have been far more careful if I actually knew there was someone else in the building” Olivier told him, sounding truthfully apologetic. 

“It’s alright… It’s in the past now” Mathieu dismissed. And, okay, maybe it was partly because he had a huge crush on the player… a crush which would never lead anywhere, but whatever. 

“Still, I feel bad… I don’t know how I have missed I have a neighbour… How could I not notice?” Olivier wondered. 

“Well… I live on the highest floor… under the roofs… and it’s pretty small” Mathieu said. Okay, maybe it was REALLY small. “Plus, I don’t go out very often, expect for work… And I’m not a noisy person” 

“Which I am…” Olivier replied, embarrassed, maybe replaying every embarrassing thing he could have possibly done since he was living here. And there were many. 

“Yeah… but you thought you were alone… I can get why you were being loud.” Mathieu told him. 

“Well, I had kind of bought the whole building to be sure I wouldn’t disturb anyone… But none of your previous neighbours told me there was another flat” Olivier informed. 

“Maybe they didn’t notice me either… I wouldn’t be that surprised… I’m not even sure I ever crossed path with one of them” Mathieu replied. “Though, didn’t you notice there was another flight of stairs… or a mail-box?” He wondered, trying not to sound accusing. 

“Well… I just thought the last floor wasn’t fixed up or anything and that no one lived there… Now I know I should have checked… And I’m not receiving my mail here yet… I used to live at a friend’s place and my mail is still sent there… So I didn’t really pay attention to the mail-boxes.” Olivier explained. 

“I guess it makes sense” Mathieu replied. 

They talked for a while longer before Olivier apologised again. 

“I told you, it’s fine… I should go now, I have to go to work tomorrow” Mathieu announced. 

“Oh, right… What’s your work, by the way?” Olivier asked. Either he was just trying to be polite, or he was a curious person, Mathieu couldn’t be sure, even if he did look genuinely interested. 

“I’m a primary school teacher” Mathieu answered with a smile. He loved his job so much, even though it could be tiring. 

“Really? That’s cool” Olivier replied honestly. The guy was a famous footballer and he thought teaching a bunch of kids was cool (it really was, mind you, Mathieu just didn’t reckon Olivier would think so too). 

Mathieu blushed like a school girl with a crush, and he kind of felt like one too (he was dressed from head to toes with Arsenal stuff, talking to one of his favourite Arsenal player…, damn this was becoming ridiculous). 

As he left, Olivier told him:

“It was nice talking to you… even though the circumstances could have been better… You should come over sometimes” 

“Thank you very much… but I wouldn’t want to bother you” Mathieu replied. As if he were going to visit Olivier Giroud, just like that… as if they were long-term friends. No way. 

“Nonsense, you wouldn’t bother” Olivier assured him with a charming smile. 

He was probably just saying that to be nice though… The guy was probably charming all the time anyway. It was quite infuriating, to be honest.

“Okay… I’ll think about it then”. He wouldn’t. 

On the next morning, when Mathieu arrived in the staff room, he went to Yohan, his best friend, and told him:

“You’ll never guess who my noisy neighbour is”

“No… who? Your ex-boyfriend?” Yohan asked. 

“No. Thank God” Mathieu replied with a horrified look on his face. 

“So, who is it?” Yohan asked impatiently. 

“Olivier Giroud” Mathieu told him. 

Yohan’s jaw dropped. 

“You’re kidding me…” he said. Once he was sure Mathieu was serious, he added: “I think we should start spending time at your place instead of mine”. 

“Yeah, but yours is twice as big” Mathieu protested. 

“Yeah, but my neighbour isn’t Olivier Giroud” Yohan countered. 

Mathieu told Yohan everything about what had happened the previous night, and at some point one of their co-workers interrupted them, sitting between them on the couch. 

“Stop doing that boys, seriously it’s annoying” She requested, referring to the habit Yohan and Mathieu had of talking together in French. 

“You’re finding it annoying only because you can’t eavesdrop on them” Another co-worker affirmed. 

“Exactly, I never said otherwise” she replied, not caring one bit. 

Both men rolled their eyes at their friend’s antics. 

“So, boys… Still no girlfriend?” She then asked, being as nosy as ever. 

“No” They both replied at the same time. 

“Or boyfriend?” She asked, looking pointedly at Yohan. 

“For the umpteenth time: I. Am. Not. Gay.” Yohan told her, rolling his eyes. 

“And for the umpteenth time, you dress too well to be a straight guy” she said, making Mathieu and Yohan roll their eyes again. 

The funny thing was that, Mathieu was gay and Yohan was straight, but their co-workers were convinced it was the other way around. Mathieu felt a bit bad for not re-establishing the truth, but he didn’t feel like coming out yet, and Yohan had assured him it was fine. The problem was that Yohan had a crush on one of the other teachers, and it didn’t help that she thought he was gay. 

When Mathieu got back home that night, he checked his mail-box and nearly had another heart-attack when he found a ticket for the next Arsenal’s match. Oh God… Mathieu had dreamt of going to the Emirates Stadium for as long as he could remember. And it was a fucking VIP section ticket. You’ve gotta be kidding me… Mathieu thought, bewildered. There was no note with it, but none was needed. It clearly came from Olivier, who was feeling bad for having been an awful neighbour. 

When he was teaching his class the following day, one of his pupils asked him: 

“Why are you so happy Mati?” Because, yeah, his pupils were calling him ‘Mati’, then again, they were first graders, and Mathieu didn’t mind. 

“Well, Jessica, I’m happy because I am going to an Arsenal match on Saturday” Mathieu told her. 

“Ah, okay” The young girl replied with an understanding nod. “This is very nice… how did you get a ticket?” 

Even first graders knew primary teachers couldn’t afford buying tickets to an Arsenal match. Well, technically they could… if they stopped eating for a week. Wasn’t that sad? 

“It is a gift from my neighbour” Mathieu replied with a smile. 

“Then, your neighbour must be fucking rich” Thomas said. 

“Thomas, I thought we had agreed on you not using the ‘f’ word” Mathieu chastised, even though he had to hold back his laughter. The kid had said that with such an innocent look… it was just priceless. 

“Sorry Mati” the young boy apologised. 

“It’s okay. Just don’t do it again” Mathieu requested before addressing to the whole class: “Come on now, go back to your collage”. 

On Saturday, Mathieu wasn’t able to do anything until it was time to go to the Stadium. He was far too excited to do anything productive. He had heard Olivier leaving sooner in the day, now knowing where he was going, and the weirdness of the situation struck him once again. 

Once he had sat down, approximatively one hour before the match would start (he couldn’t have risked being late), he stared at everything with stars shining in his eyes. And, not that he would admit, but he nearly got emotional when the match started. The only disadvantage was that other people in the strands were quiet, and almost indifferent, so Mathieu couldn’t cheer as much as he wanted to. It was unnerving to see that many of these people seemed not to realise how lucky they were to actually be there, how many people were dreaming of being in their place. 

On the next day, Mathieu knocked on Olivier’s door, feeling pretty nervous. He had always been a very shy person, and it didn’t help that it was Olivier. 

“Hey, Mathieu, it’s good to see you” Olivier said when he saw him on his doorstep. At least, he remembered his name. This had to be a good sign. 

“Hey… I… I made macaroons” Mathieu said, handing him a white square box. “And… I though… maybe you don’t even have the right to eat them… but it was kinda too late when I realised that…” 

“Nah, don’t worry, it’s fine… It’s really nice of you” Olivier replied, taking the box from him. “Do you wanna come in?” He then asked. 

“You don’t have to invite me in” Mathieu told him, “I just wanted to thank you for the ticket…” 

“Oh… That was nothing” Olivier dismissed. 

“No, no, no… It wasn’t nothing, okay? You don’t realise how much I wanted to see a match at the Emirates. It was fucking brilliant” Mathieu told him. 

“Well… I’m glad it made you happy then” Olivier told him with a smile. “So, you’re coming in or what?” He asked again, totally ignoring Mathieu’s prior refusal. 

“Ok…” He agreed reluctantly. He didn’t want to impose, but he was starting to believe maybe he really wasn’t bothering Olivier… 

They sat on the couch and Olivier opened the box Mathieu had given to him. 

“Wow, they look professional” Olivier noted, sounding impressed.

“I just… I like baking… a lot” Mathieu told him, as if it was explaining everything. 

When Olivier bit into a macaroon, he moaned so obscenely that Mathieu’s cock twitched with interest. Fuck, why did he have to make this kind of noises? The guy was already hot enough as it was. 

“Fuck…” He cursed, “They’re delicious”

Mathieu cleared his throat, feeling extremely flattered and awkward at the same time. “Thanks” he mumbled.

From that day on, they started seeing each other regularly, becoming good friends. Olivier was putting a ticket for every home game in his mail-box. Mathieu tried refusing them, saying he couldn’t accept, but Olivier had assured him that he had no one else to give a ticket to, as his family and friends had stayed in France, and that he was happy to know someone was here for him. Then, he had stammered that he didn’t mean Mathieu was there “for him” but that he had been invited by him and… and then he had lost himself in his explanation, stammering and blushing. Mathieu was quite surprised to see this side of him, and he also found it very endearing.

One day, Olivier even knocked on his door to ask him if he wanted to play FIFA with his friends and him. His friends being other Arsenal players, of fucking course. 

Mathieu wanted to decline but Olivier had insisted, and no believable excuse came to him, so he ended up sitting on a couch, between Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny, in a living-room full of famous footballer players. 

Mathieu was still crushing on Olivier, big time, and it had even evolved into more than just a crush. The more he got to know Olivier, the more he liked him. It was complicated, but he was keeping his feelings under control as he was certain the younger man would never reciprocate. He could have all the hot girls he wanted, and Mathieu had heard plenty come and go, even though it was happening less often now… he knew he didn’t have much of a chance with Olivier. 

One night, Mathieu waited for Olivier to come home, sitting in front of his door. Arsenal had just lost a game 3 to 1, leaving them with almost no hope of qualifying for the quarter finals. Mathieu had watched the game at the Stadium and knew Olivier was feeling awful about it. He had seen him walk back to the locker room, his eyes fixed upon the ground and his shoulders slumped. 

“Oh… you’re here” Olivier said tonelessly when he saw Mathieu. “I’m sorry you had to see that” 

“It wasn’t that awful” Mathieu said tentatively, cringing at how it sounded. 

“Come on, don’t lie to me… You know it was” Olivier said, opening his door and stepping inside, not inviting Mathieu inside but leaving the door opened behind him. 

As he came in, Mathieu saw Olivier on the couch, watching a sport channel, listening journalists criticising Arsenal, and especially Olivier for his missed opportunities. 

“Don’t watch that” Mathieu told him, taking the remote from his hand and switching the TV off. 

“Hey!” Olivier protested. 

“It isn’t up for discussion… Look Oli… I know you’re strong, and that you can take the negative remarks, but it won’t do no good to you, especially so soon after the match” Mathieu assured him. “Now talk to me, you’ll feel better” 

“What… What do you mean? Talk to you?” Olivier asked, a bit puzzled. 

“Well, tell me how you feel about everything and stuff” Mathieu replied. 

“You’re not a shrink Mathieu” Olivier told him matter-of-factly. 

“I know, but I’m your friend… or I think so… And friends can listen too sometimes…” Mathieu affirmed. 

“O… Okay” Olivier agreed, sounding unsure that he was making the right decision. 

Mathieu sat down next to him on the couch and Olivier lied down, putting his head in Mathieu’s lap. Olivier was a really tactile person, and it had surprised Mathieu a little at first, but he had later noticed that many of the other players he had met were like that too… Though, they touched him far less often than Olivier, but then again Mathieu and he had gotten close… really close. 

Mathieu started passing his hand repeatedly into Olivier’s hair, trying to soothe him. He didn’t know why Olivier wasn’t protesting whenever Mathieu did that, while he would swat his other friends’ hands away whenever they would get anywhere near his precious hair. 

“I… I played terribly… I’m sure any of your pupils would have done better than me” Olivier started. Mathieu wanted to protest and tell him that he was exaggerating, but he let him continue, thinking it would be good for him to pour his heart out, get everything off his chest. So, he just listened and kept caressing his hair comfortingly. 

Once he was finished, Olivier sat up, sighing audibly and said: 

“I’m sorry… it must have been dreadful to listen to this” 

“It’s okay” Mathieu told him. Quite frankly, it had been horrible for him, to see Olivier so downcast, but if it could help him feel better, then so be it. 

“Thank you for being there” Olivier told him honestly, hugging him tight. 

“You’re welcome” Mathieu whispered, hugging him back. 

Then, he didn’t quite know how… but one thing led to another and… Olivier ended up kissing him on the lips. It was light and brief, but it had definitely happened. The younger boy then bit his lip, waiting for Mathieu’s reaction. Mathieu was so shocked that he didn’t move, or talk, or anything. All he could think about was how much he wanted them to kiss again. His wish was granted, as Olivier kissed him again, a bit tentatively. 

However, it quickly got more heated as Mathieu kissed back eagerly, showing Olivier that he wanted this too. 

No more words were said that night, heavy sighs and broken moans being the only sounds which could be heard. 

In the morning, Mathieu had to run because he had forgotten to set an alarm and was going to be late to work. 

Though, when he got back home in the evening, he went straight to Olivier’s. 

“Hey… Come in” Olivier greeted him nervously. 

“Hi…” Mathieu replied.

“Did you have a nice day?” Olivier asked, staying in the middle of the room. 

“Yeah… what about you?” Mathieu asked awkwardly. 

“Good… it was good” Olivier replied. 

An uncomfortable silence settled, until Mathieu found the courage to break it: 

“Aren’t we going to talk about it?” 

“Talk about what?” Olivier asked, but Mathieu could tell he was just playing dumb. 

“You know what, Olivier” Mathieu affirmed a bit snappily. He really didn’t like where this was going. 

“I do…” Olivier admitted, looking down. Then, he paused for a few seconds, before continuing: “look Mathieu… I…”

“You what Olivier?” Mathieu asked angrily. 

Olivier passed his hand into his hair and inhaled shakily.

“You regret it? Don’t you?” Mathieu questioned, almost rhetorically, sounding half-angry and half-hurt. 

“Mathieu…” Olivier started, pleading him with his eyes to understand. But what was there to understand? 

“I get it” Mathieu snapped, leaving the flat hastily. 

He called Yohan almost immediately. 

“Yo’?” 

“Yeah… Are you alright? You sound weird…”

“I’ll be fine… Can I just… Can I sleep at yours tonight?” 

“Sure you can, you know you’re always welcome” 

“Thanks Yo’”

“No problem” 

One night turned into two, and then three, and then Mathieu stopped counting. From time to time, he would ask Yohan if he wanted him to go back to his own flat, but Yohan would always answer he could stay for as long as he needed, and that he didn’t mind having him there at all. 

All of Olivier’s texts and phone-calls went unanswered. Fortunately, the younger man didn’t know where Mathieu was, so it was easier to ignore him. 

One day, as Mathieu was leading his pupils to their parents, Jessica asked him: 

“Mati… why are you so sad?” 

Mathieu stared at her in surprise before recovering from his shock and answering softly: 

“Well… I had a very good friend… but now we don’t talk to each other anymore” 

The little girl hugged his middle and told him: 

“I’m sorry for you… Maybe you can be friends again… Sometimes, I fight with Laura, but then I do something nice… like letting her play with my dolls… and then we’re friends again”

“Thank you for your advice sweetie… Maybe I’ll try it out” Mathieu replied, ruffling her hair affectionately, trying not to cry. “Now you should go… Your mom is waiting for you” he said, he didn’t want her to see he had tears in his eyes. Children could be damn perceptive. 

He was fucking depressed for the rest of the day, and it didn’t help that there was an Arsenal match on TV. 

“I don’t know if you noticed, but Olivier’s been playing badly and less often since you guys stopped talking… And he smiles less often too” Yohan told him as they were watching the match. 

“I don’t know… maybe” Mathieu replied, unconvinced. 

“You know, you never told me what had happened between you guys…” Yohan told him. He had never asked before, not wanting to burden Mathieu… but now he couldn’t help it. 

He had to coax Mathieu into telling him but, eventually, his best friend did open up to him. 

“Seriously? That’s it? Don’t get me wrong, he totally did the wrong thing… but don’t you think it blew out of proportions? You don’t even read his texts or answer his calls… I thought he had made a capital offense or something… Maybe he realised he had been acting like a jerk and wants to apologise and tell you… well, that he’s been a jerk.” Yohan proposed. 

Mathieu answered nothing, fidgeting with one of the cushions. 

“Look… I can’t decide for you, obviously… But maybe you could give him a chance to explain…” Yohan told him.

“I… I’ll think about it” Mathieu replied. 

Of course, he kept on ignoring Olivier. 

One evening, however, as he came back from work, he found Olivier on Yohan’s doorstep. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked him with hostility. 

“I just want to talk…” Olivier said in a pleading tone. 

“Well you’re too late, you should have talked when I asked you to, instead of letting silence speak for you” Mathieu told him, making him flinch. 

“Please… Two minutes… that’s all I’m asking for” Olivier tried again. 

Mathieu sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Fine… two minutes… It’s all you get” He finally agreed, albeit extremely reluctantly, opening the door and coming in. 

Olivier followed him, immediately starting talking. He had two minutes and that was it. 

“I acted like a jackass, I can’t argue with that… I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am for that… I freaked out… You’re the first guy I ever slept with… and I had never suspected I could be gay before you came into my life… But the thing is that I can’t deny it anymore… In the morning after… well you know… after we slept together, I had decided to tell you it had been a mistake… Because I just couldn’t cope with the thought of being gay, and what it could do to my career… But when I saw your reaction… how hurt you were, I actually realised the real mistake was telling you it had been a mistake… I’ve been selfish and I’m sorry… I realised plenty of things since then… That I miss you, and living without you sucks… And I… I love you” Olivier rushed out. “I would understand if you never wanted to talk to me again… but I would really like it if you accepted to give me another chance… let me try to make it up to you… at least come back to your flat…” he added desperately. 

Mathieu was stunned into silence, staring at Olivier as if he had grown a second head. He… He loved him…?

“Please Mathieu… say something” Olivier requested, biting his bottom lip worriedly. 

As Mathieu still didn’t move or speak, Olivier’s shoulders slumped and he looked defeated. 

“I… I’ll just go, then” he whispered brokenly before turning towards the door. 

However, he was stopped by Mathieu rushing to him and hugging him from behind. Olivier was startled but reacted quickly, putting his hands over Mathieu’s, which were resting on his chest (where he could feel the younger’s man heart beating wildly). 

“I’m still mad at you” Mathieu informed. “But I love you too, you idiot”. 

Olivier relaxed and turned around so he could hug Mathieu properly. 

“I missed you so much” He whispered, inhaling the older man’s scent. 

“I missed you too” Mathieu said back, hugging him tightly. 

They were still hugging when Yohan came back home. Seeing them like that, he said to Mathieu: 

“Oh, good, you’re not going to kill me then” 

Because, yes, of course, he was responsible for Olivier’s presence. Mathieu had known immediately. Yohan was the only one who knew where he had been staying, after all. 

His relationship with Olivier had a rough start, and it was complicated at first, but they made it work: Olivier made it up to him, then they started being annoyingly sweet. Sure, they still had to hide, because coming out would mean taking the risk of putting Olivier’s career on the line, but they were being annoyingly sweet to the few people who knew about them. And it was quite enough already. Of course, they also had their sex-craze phase, during which they had sex in every room of their flats, on every flat surface, at any time of the day or night. To be honest, they had yet to leave that phase. Fortunately, they could have sex as often and as loudly as they wanted… it was definitely one of the biggest advantages of having the whole building to themselves. 

A few months later, Mathieu was officially moving in with Olivier. And so, okay, maybe his annoying neighbour was not that annoying, in the end.

**Author's Note:**

> I really don't know where this came from ^^ I hope it wasn't too cheesy, and cliché, and lame =P I really hope you liked it and it would be very nice of you to leave a comment to tell me what you thought about it C=  
> Have a good night (or day) folks! =D
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at "clumsy-fox" or "head-in-rainbows" :)


End file.
